Thursday, April 13, 2017

Art appreciation through Histology

My mom was great when I was younger (and as I got older) to expose me to great works of art, music and theater. When we were little, we would go to musicals and plays and I would often fall asleep (one family friend remembered this many years later and remarked that we always wore "fancy pajamas" because we'd wear cute dresses but fall asleep).

We would go to art museums and see great works of art, my mom was especially a fan of the Impressionists (Monet, Van Gogh, Degas). I never would have thought that 20 years later, I'd be leaning over a microscope and thinking how that microscopic tissue actually looked like a great work of art. An appreciation of art and knowledge of science is a actually a great way to integrate beauty. Histology is the microscopic study of tissues, such as from biopsies. It can be used as a way to diagnose disease and also to learn more about the function of the body. To me, it was a reminder that one creator made us all and beauty can transcend function and utilitarianism.

One of my favorite quotes, by St. John Paul II, is, "Science is the How and God is the Why". Science and religion, right brain and left brain can live in harmony and can be beautiful each in its own way.